Recently commissioned by Novatec Design as part of a refurbishment to 607 Bourke Street Melbourne. Our objective was to replace an old drab static light box tenant directory with a digital directory that seamlessly fit in with the building’s new interior. It needed to draw the attention of visitors, be easy to manage and update, and “didn’t look like a monitor hanging on a wall”.
Located at the ‘Bottom End’ of Bourke Street this classic dark grey building with an newly refurbished modern light filled interior called for an elegant and classic, but modern looking directory system. Together with the team at Novatec Design we were able to achieve what we believe is an elegant and effortless integration of a high tech digital directory system.
The system is comprised of a single 42 inch directory at the Bourke Street entrance driven by a single computer wirelessly connected to the building manager.
Sprocket recently had the chance to do a site visit to a previously installed directory. The Building Directory at the Argus Centre at 300 Latrobe street Melbourne was installed in 2012. Building management contacted us and requested some modifications to the software. When these were complete we stayed around took some photographs of the directory in its foyer.
This location is an excellent example of how the sleek DW Directory integrates into a modern building. Many of the walls at this address are asymmetrical. With its strong lines and solid construction the Sprocket Directory provides a visual anchor within the foyer; as well as providing easy to understand building tenant list.
The Manchester Unity Building is one of Melbourne s most loved and recognised buildings. Built in 1932 it is landmark building; the first to employ modern Project Management techniques in it construction, Australian marble was used extensively on interior walls throughout the building. The two escalators, the first in Melbourne, although only one now survives.The foyer of the building is particularly striking. Unfortunately the directory boards were also from the last century.
Sprocket was approached to replace the existing paper directory boards with a new touch screen digital system. The challenge was to incorporate the new technology without compromising the period charm of the building foyer. We think we succeed.
We would like thank Michael from Frank Knight, Mat Tae and Dr Kia Pajouhesh and the Committee of Management of the MUB Owners Corporation for their input and assistance.
The Launchpad iPad Handheld is the ideal way to securely house your iPad and yet allow it to be picked up and used for a wide variety of applications from restaurants and exhibitions to trade shows and museums. Secured by a stainless steel tether and cushioned from the odd accidental drop, the Launchpad handheld has demonstrated its effectiveness from Melbourne to Manilla!Available with either hide or show home button and featuring an optional power adaptor for fast and easy charging, the Launchpad Handheld iPad case is the enclosure of choice for iPads on the go.
The design team at Sprocket has outdone themselves and developed the most verstatile Launchpad iPad stand ever..the all new iPOS with Quick Change Graphics. This unique system allows retailers, exhibitors and event organisers to update their brand message in minutes, no more struggling with bonded on graphic panels. The system even features an inbuilt power adaptor connector and cable that keeps the power components away from harm.To date Sprocket has been selling these highly sought after devices to organisations including Foxtel, Qantas,AAPT and Coles amongst many others.The iPOS can be further be optioned with illuminated signage, brochure holders, speakers and headsets and is available for ordering now!A revolution maybe not but a helluva lot better than anything else!
Announcing the latest Launchpad revolution from Sprocket….the iPOS iPad Point of Sale display system that gives the biggest bang for your bucks in a retail environment, exhibition space in fact anywhere an iPad is used in a public environment.
Incorporating the highly secure Launchpad iPad case, this highly flexible and fully demountable iPad stand has been designed to provide additional promotional area around the iPad using high quality vinyl prints that are easily replaced and updated. Power to the iPad is internally routed and the device can be positioned as a movable device on a heavy duty base or fixed to the floor in more permanent deployments.
The iPOS can be further be optioned with illuminated signage, brochure holders, speakers and headsets and is available for ordering now!For more Launchpad products click here: http://www.launchpad-sprocket.com
Based on design concepts by Hive Creative, Sprocket engineered a customised enclosure for the City of Melbourne Christmas display in the the city square. The aluminium and steel housing was in the form of a giant story book and featured dual hi brightness46″ LCD screens displaying an animationof the story of the nativity in picturebook form. The presentation played day and night leading up to Xmas and was an instant hit with children and adults alike.
Hive Creative also did a wonderful job on the animation and a special thanks also goes to Atco Pickering as the manufacturers who worked tirelessly on the project [check out the video].
The entire project was great success and Sprocket are looking forward to expanding the concept further for the following year.
Ian Wong, that intrepid industrial designer of renown, continues his passionate determination to educate the wider public on the history of Australian design has created a fabulous historical haven of orange Aussie design. Move over Orange People this exhibition is a joyous celebration of product design that works so well I am going out to buy something orange.
Sprocket supplied a Launchpad to secure Ian’s iPad allowing visitors to the Gallery to browse his blog and peruse items not on display [and almost all the items are from Ian's extensive private collection of design classics].
The Orange exhibition is showing October 6th – 28th
Design Gallery
10am-4pm Monday-Friday
Design Institute of Australia
Level 1 – 175 Collins Street, Melbourne
The Art Gallery of NSW is using Sprocket’s Launchpads in their interactive gallery to securely house iPads as part of their Contemporary Art Zone.The Contemporary Art app was developed in house by the Gallery’s IT and design team and is aimed at encouraging visitors to explore a selection of artists and artwork from the contemporary art collection at the Gallery through browsing the app in the Launchpad enclosure.
Retailers, exhibitors, galleries, museums now have another iPad enclosure option with the release by Sprocket of its all new totally clear Launchpad secure iPad kiosk.
Listening to its customers the Sprocket design team has worked hard to precision engineer this brand new innovation enabling the fabulous Apple iPad to be seen in all its form and beauty yet fully protected from unauthorised use or theft in a public environment.
Definitely for those who want to show off what they have got..safely and securely. Orders are now being taken for mid November delivery!
A Melbourne Videographer contacted sprocket to assist in a project for the Geelong Gallery. Ryan O’Hehir needed an small, robust ipad enclosure to play video documentaries of local artists at an exhibition at the Geelong Galley. The project called for looped video and audio to be played from a wallmount LaunchPad. In this instance Ryan decided to connect headphones to the LaunchPad to create a ‘listening post’ so that gallery visitors could hear the audio without distracting other gallery patrons.
LaunchPad is ideally suited to this purpose; it is discreet, strong and stylish.
There is not enough room in cyberspace to detail the impact Steve Jobs has had on the way we communicate and the way we engage with the virtual world.
In my small case, it was the iPad that impacted with the force of a supernova on my thinking and my business and sad to say at first it was more a dismissive “this thing hasn’t got a defined user case” that entered my head on day one of its release. How wrong was I [and I am not alone] and how quick did this technology would revolutionise my business direction.
As a designer and manufacturer of interactive kiosk devices for the past 15 years I am on the constant lookout for any new technology that has the capability to redefine the interactive marketplace. 3D technology?..still doesn’t excite…flexible LCD panels?..good but limited use…bigger and bigger LCD panels?…there is a limit to one person’s viewing area. On and on,…new technology releases one after the other and each one less exciting and revolutionary than the previous.
So then the iPad came in my life and lights went on in my head [ok a few people helped turn them on but why spoil a good story]..”the traditional kiosk is dead” I thought or at the very least it was gravely endangered! Why not put the iPad to use as a kiosk? The large lumps of metal and plastic we carefully designed and crafted, winning Design Awards along the way now seemed foolish and clumsy by comparison to the iPad which we safely ensconced in our sleek Launchpad housing.
The iPad kiosk has helped reposition my company and dare I say it, reignited the design passion in me, something that Steve Jobs never lost and for that I alone I am eternally grateful.
As David Pogue said in his great article in the New York Times [see link below]” Steve Jobs, “imitated, never duplicated”
Ever wondered whether technology would work at a cemetery, well the Adelaide Cemeteries Authority recently commissioned Sprocket Kiosks to develop an interactive system at the Cheltenham Cemetery that makes light work of finding loved ones, memorial services and other relevant information.The kiosk , featuring a secure 17″ screen with secure keyboard and a 32″ informational screen above it also includes an A4 printer to enable visitors to print maps and memorial notices and timetables.
Sprocket’s challenge was to design and manufacture a robust yet elegent structure that would function in the extreme climate of Adelaide and provide a visible focus for visitors to the cemetery. The system has inbuilt temperature control and a proximity sensor that reduces energy consumption when no visitors are present.
The elegant software developed by ACA is a simple to use web based program mirroring the ACA website and it is hoped that the success of the Cheletenham kiosk will enable further devices to be installed in other ACA managed cemeteries.
German industrial designer closely associated with the consumer products company Braun and the Functionalist school of industrial design.
1. Is innovative
Rams states that possibilities for innovation in design are unlikely to be exhausted since technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. He also highlights that innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology and can never be an end in and of itself.
2. Makes a product useful
A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.
3. Is aesthetic
Only well-executed objects can be beautiful. The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products used every day have an effect on people and their well-being.
4. Makes a product understandable
It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user’s intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.
5. Is unobtrusive
Products and their design should be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression. Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools and are neither decorative objects nor works of art.
6. Is honest
Honest design should not attempt to make a product seem more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It should not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
7. Is long-lasting
It should avoid being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even when the trend may be in favor for disposable products.
8. Is thorough down to the last detail
Dieter Rams states that nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance in the design of a product since care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
9. Is environmentally friendly
Good design should make an important contribution to the preservation of the environment by conserving resources and minimizing physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
10. Is as little design as possible
Dieter Rams makes the distinction between the common “Less is more” and his strongly advised “Less, but better” highlighting the fact that this approach focuses on the essential aspects thus, the products are not burdened with non-essentials. The desirable result would then be purer and simpler.
Having been actively involved in the supply of large format interactive kiosk technology for the Lake Mungo Visitor Centre, the Sprocket team were pleased to hear that further architectural projects are being considered for the site under the guidance of Pritzker Prize winning architect Glenn Murcutt and design partner Wendy Lewin. We believe Murcutt’s motto ‘touch the earth lightly’ will ensure this historically and evolutionary significant site is given the respect it deserves… exciting stuff.
Murcutt and Lewin set to design iconic Mungo centre – LINK
